Hirsch ’14 Excited About Business Skills

Alex Hirsch ’14 – This is the 5th week of the Business Immersion Program. I believe this is a great program because Wabash does not have a business major and this program allows for those who are interested in business to get a crash course on the different aspects and allows for those who are part of the program to explore which part of business they are most interested in. So far we have studied everything from finance to marketing. Beyond learning about the different types of business opportunities available, the BIP has also given us real life experience because we have working on different projects. We are working on a consulting project for the college. The goal for that project is to improve the Employment Self Help (ESH) system. The other major project is working on creating a business plan.

The business idea that we are currently developing is delivery service for restaurants that do not usually deliver. We have decided to locate our business in Hamilton County as there is no competition in the area and there is a high volume of restaurants as well. For example, our service would pick up your meal from Buffalo Wild Wings and deliver it directly to your door. At first, it seemed like a relatively simple idea but as we have gone into much more detail on the subject, we have discovered that the logistics of it are more sophisticated then first expected. The biggest problem we have encountered has been the pricing model and how to make the most money.

We gave our second presentation this past week. There is one more presentation at the end of the program and that is the presentation that really matters. Overall, this presentation went just okay. Like anything, it could have been better. Our thought thought was that we would rather make the mistakes now instead of during the final presentation on July 3rd. The hypothetical investors gave us lots of good constructive criticism on how to improve our business and our overall presentation. As you see in the picture here, all of the “investors” called us back into the room to let each group know what they did wrong as well as their strengths.

Overall, this program has been a great experience for me. Learning about the different aspects of business will prove to be invaluable for me in the future as I look at my potential career. I have made my share of mistakes but I hope to continue to be successful with the upcoming presentations.